William norbis



(No Model.)

W. NORRIS.

MEANS FOR CONNECTING AND DISGONNBGTING CARS PROM THEIR TRACTION ROPE.

No. 251,927. Patented Jan. 3,1882.

Z I Z I Z WITNESSES I v INVENTOR:

ATTORNEYS.

N. PEIERS. Pholo Lithagruphon Washington, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM NORRIS, OF CAMBRIDGE, OHIO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 251,927, dated January 3,1882.

Application filed October .10, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM Noams, of Cambridge, in the county of Guernsey and State of Ohio, have invented a new and Improved Means for Connecting Goal-Oars to and Disconnecting them from their Traction- Ropes; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is an end elevation of a coal-car with my improvements shown attached. Fig. 2 is a top view of the metal block B. Fig. 3 is a side view of the rocking bar E. Fig. 4 represents detail views of the journal-blocks c, which'support one end of the shaft E. Fig. 5 is a top View of the guide-bar F.

My invention has for its object to provide a means for connecting coal-cars with and disconnecting them from the traction-rope which draws them up and down grade in the mine; and it consists, first, in the peculiar means for connecting the cars to the endless traveling cable, and, secondly, in the means for automatically disconnecting the cars from the cable at the end of the route without the necessity of stopping the engine which drives said the lower horizontal end timber of which is bolted a casting or metal block, B, having a vertical slot through the same, (see Fig. 2,) and having on its lower side a notch, a, of a size large enough to receive the traveling cable 0. In the vertical slot of the casting B is ful-.

' crumed, at b, a vertical lever, 1), whose lower end is arranged to bite the cable in the notch a whenever its upper end is thrown in the opposite direction. Whenever the lever is thus deflected and its lower end made to bite the cable it will be seen that the car is firmly connected to it, and moves with it up the grade and out of the mine or down the grade and into the mine. To hold the lever in its engaged position a pawl, P, is jointed to it at its upper end, and is madeto engage with ratchet-teeth c on a bar, E. This lever and pawl both work" through a slot in the slotted guide-bar F, ar-

ranged horizontally near the top of the car, while the bar E is journaled in hearings formed in castings c d, which are bolted to the car and also to the slotted guide-bar F. The bar E, bearing the ratchet-teeth, has a crank-arm, g, atone end projecting beyond the car, and which is arranged'to strike a tappet-arm or projection,f, extending from a braced standard, G, one of which latter is placed at each end ofthe route which the car has to travel.

The operation of the devices is as follows: The car being ready to move, it is connected to the cable by deflecting the lever, which lever is held to its place by the pawl until the end of the route is reached. Then when the car is to be stopped, instead of stopping the engine that drives the cable, (which takes much time and trouble and involves a wear and tear on the machinery,) the crank-arm g of the toothba-r strikes the tappet fot' the standard, and by turning the toothed bar E about its axis throws its teeth away from the pawl,allowing the latter to be freed and the lever to release the cable, the slotted guide-bar meanwhile preventing the pawl from being twisted to one side.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim'as new isl. The combination, with a car having a metal block with a notch, a, formed in its lower side to receive the cable, of a lever having its end extended below the level of the notch to bear directly against and bite the cable in said notch, and means for holding the lever to its place, substantially .as described.

2. The combination, with a coal-car and its traction-cable, of a clutch for connecting the two, and means, substantially as described, for disconnecting them automatically without stopping the rope, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a coal-car and its traction-cable, ot' a clutch held to its place by a pawl, an axially-moving toothed bar for holding said pawl, and a stop or resistance for turning the said bar to throw its teeth from the pawl, substantially as described.

WM. NORRIS.

Witnesses:

Enw. W. BYRN, SoLoN G. KEMON. 

